Raw is War

St. Louis, Missouri
June 12, 2000

The Rock electrified a sold-out crowd at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, heading to the ring to open RAW. The People's Champion challenged Kane and the Undertaker to bring it on, which the Big Red Machine and the American Badass soon did. But before the trio could get into it, World Wrestling Federation CEO Linda McMahon came to the ring to address the trio. She told them not to fall into the McMahon/Helmsley Faction's "divide and conquer" plan, and that the three would have to work together at least until King of the Ring.

That brought Linda's family to the stage - husband Vince McMahon, son Shane McMahon, daughter Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, and son-in-law Triple H. Vince looked his wife in the eye and asked, "Who the hell do you think you are?" He then told his wife "All you really are is a meddlesome, goody-two-shoes, castrating shrew of a wife." Linda then continued her announcement - that at King of the Ring, The Rock would team up with Kane and the Underaker to face Vince, Shane and Triple H in a Six Man Tag Team Match! Vince accepted the match, although Shane and Triple H didn't seem too happy about it.

Linda then made some matches for the evening. She said Triple H would defend his Federation Championship against an opponent of her choosing. Vince again agreed, as Triple H argued, saying it wasn't fair. Linda then told her daughter that she would defend the Federation Women's Championship against Lita - and if any member of the Faction were to interfere, Stephanie would forfeit the belt to Lita! Vince then accused his wife of playing CEO, to which she responded, "I don't play CEO, I am the CEO," and then she told her husband that he would team with Shane to take on the Dudley Boyz in a Table Match that night!

As Linda left the arena in a stretch limousine, Triple H tried to find out who his opponent would be. "You may be able to sweet talk my daughter," said Linda, "but you can't sweet talk me."

X-Pac took on Dean Malenko next in a King of the Ring Qualifying Match. Dean was accompanied to the ring by some of the Godfather's fine ladies. X-Pac took the win and a spot in the tournament following an X-Factor.

In the DX locker room, Stephanie asked Triple H what she was going to do in her title defense. Triple H said he just didn't know. Her match was up next, and Lita was fired up. After being tossed around the ring and being knocked to the floor, Stephanie feigned a knee injury which drew the referee's attention. With the ref occupied, Kurt Angle made his way to the ring and delivered an Olympic Slam to Lita, which allowed Stephanie to get back in the ring and score the pinfall. Stephanie and Angle celebrated after the match, even hugging three times as Triple H watched on.

The Faction then broke into Kane's locker room, attacking the Big Red Machine with a bat and knocking him unconscious. The Faction ripped his mask off and Pat Patterson took a picture of Kane's deformed face. They would then blackmail the Big Red Machine, threatening to show his hideous face to the world unless he took on The Rock in a No Holds Barred Match that night.

Too Cool defended their Tag Team Championship against Too Cool. It seemed that T&A had the belts won after Test attacked Scotty Too Hotty with one of Trish's boots, but Scotty was able to kick out of the pin attempt. Finally, when Scotty went for the Worm on Test, Val Venis interfered, costing T&A a DQ loss. After the match, Val and T&A assaulted Too Cool until Rikishi made the save.

Vince & Shane were up next against the Dudleys, and the red-hot crowd in St. Louis damn sure wanted the McMahon boys to get some wood. The Dudleys scored with the diving headbutt on Vince and a 3-D on Shane, and then set up Vince on a table and prepared to drive Shane right through his father. But the no-DQ format of the table match allowed DX to interfere, first with X-Pac and Road Dogg putting D-Von through a table, amd then with Tori splashing Buh Buh Ray through a table not once, but twice!

Backstage, Triple H told Bull Buchanan that the Undertaker had refused to fight him, saying that Bull wasn't in his league. That angered Bull to the point where Bull stole the Undertaker's bike. The American Badass saw Bull pulling away though, and followed him out of the arena in a car.

Crash Holly was up next, challenging Gerald Brisco for the Hardcore Championship. Pat Patterson accidentally nailed his fellow stooge with a garbage can, allowing Elroy to regain the Hardcore title! As he left the arena, Crash swore he would never lose his title again, only to leave it on top of his car as he drove away!

Triple H's mystery title defense brought a scowl to the Game's face, and his opponent was none other than Chris Jericho! Jericho seemed to have the match won with a Lionsault, but Stephanie distracted the referee. After the ref was knocked out, Jericho actually locked Stephanie in the Walls of Jericho, but Triple H nailed Y2J with the belt. After a Pedigree, Triple H had won.

After a successful title defense against Jeff Hardy on SmackDown!, Chris Benoit defended his Intercontinental Championship against Matt Hardy on RAW. After a high-flying, high-impact affair, Benoit reversed the Twist of Fate into a Crippler Crossface for the win. As Jeff came down to check on his brother, Benoit again nailed Jeff with the title belt.

That put Jeff at a huge disadvantage, as his King of the Ring Qualifying Match with Christian was up next. Christian layed it in to Jeff, but Jeff was able to reverse a superplex into a small package to make it into the King of the Ring Tournament.

The Faction came to the ring in preparation for the main event, and Vince pointed out that it was McMahon/Helmsley Faction 3, CEO 0 that evening. He then promised that the Faction would be victorious at King of the Ring. Kane and The Rock then made their way to the ring for the main event. The two went at it tooth-and-nail until GTV made its mysterious return to Federation television. This particular segment showed Patterson and Brisco discussing the picture they took of Kane. It turns out the picture didn't come out! Kane and The Rock saw this and diverted their attention to the Faction, as did the Undertaker, who returned just in time! As Rock, Kane and Taker beat the heck out of the Faction, the Dudley Boyz brought a table to the ring just as the trio had Triple H trapped! Kane and the Undertaker then picked Triple H up by his neck and drove him through the table with a thunderous double chokeslam!